Cherished Beatles icon who gave peace a chance

Few public figures in the 20th century created such a global outpouring of grief as former Beatle John Lennon who was killed on 8 December, 1980.

His work as a prolific songwriter, singer, artist, author and political activist brightened the lives of millions and, even in death, continues to inspire and uplift new generations of music lovers throughout the world.

During an illustrious, award-winning solo career he produced a string of classic hits including ‘Imagine’ and ‘Give Peace a Chance’, as well as collaborations with his second wife Yoko Ono and films with fellow Beatles such as ‘Yellow Submarine’.

In 2002, a BBC poll ranked the working class hero number eight in a list of 100 Greatest Britons. He made number 38 in the Rolling Stone’s 50 Greatest Artists of All Time, in which The Beatles ranked number one.

John Winston Lennon was born on 9 October, 1940, in Liverpool. Abandoned by his mother at the age of three and raised by his aunt and uncle, Lennon was educated at the Quarry Bank Grammar School. Here he was known for his cartoons and contributions to the student newspaper.

He was presented with his first guitar in 1955 and began to express a desire to be famous, to which his aunt famously cautioned, “The guitar’s all very well, John, but you’ll never make a living out of it.”

He went on to fail all of his GCE O-level examinations by a single grade, but nevertheless managed to secure a place at the Liverpool College of Art. Here, he founded his first band, ‘The Quarrymen’, and met future Beatle Sir Paul McCartney at a town fete in 1957.

The pair immediately found a shared interest in music, with Sir Paul going on to join the group and write songs with Lennon.Sir Paul soon convinced Lennon to let the young George Harrison join and, by 1960, the band had successfully completed their first recording. They had also changed their name five times, eventually settling with ‘The Beatles’.

Managed by Allan Williams, Lennon and his group began to make frequent appearances on stage at the local ‘Casbah Club’ and, more famously, the ‘Cavern Club’, where Brian Epstein first saw them play and later signed them to a management contract.

The rest, as they say, is history and The Beatles would not only go on to become rock and roll’s most famous group but also a global phenomenon.

Lennon met avant-garde artist Yoko Ono in 1966. Two years later he left his first wife, Cynthia Powell, to marry Ono and, as he became increasingly interested in more experimental sounds, it was clear that the end of The Beatles was nigh.

With Ono at his side, he went on to stage infamous ‘Bed-Ins’ in protest against the Vietnam War and wrote a series of popular anti-war songs, including ‘Give Peace a Chance’ and his now legendary utopian-themed ‘Imagine’. He also released the experimental album ‘Unfinished Music No 1: Two Virgins’ with Ono, as well as ‘Cold Turkey’, a song about his addiction to heroin.

His first fully-fledged solo album after splitting from the Beatles came in 1970 with the landmark ‘Plastic Ono Band’. Inspired by the primal scream therapy which he had undergone, its haunting lyrics and sombre vocals shocked Beatles fans but it nevertheless became known as one of Lennon’s finest solo outings. The remainder of the 1970s saw further hit releases and, crucially, the approval of his Green Card.

Lennon’s death on 8 December, 1980, stunned the world. Infatuated fan Mark David Chapman shot him several times as he entered his luxury Manhattan apartment after returning from the recording studio.

As news of his murder spread, scenes usually reserved for world leaders and royalty erupted all over the world. Grieving fans held a 10-minute silent vigil for the much-loved cultural icon a week later and Sir Paul McCartney later said, “It was the end of an era of friendship for me.”

In New York, ‘Strawberry Fields’, a memorial garden, was dedicated to his memory five years later and, in 2002, Liverpool renamed its airport the ‘Liverpool John Lennon Airport’, adopting the motto, ‘Above us only sky’. He was honoured with the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1991.

Somewhat ironically, Lennon once famously remarked on the subject of death, “We’ll either go in a plane crash or we’ll be popped off by some loony.”